‘Zero Tolerance’ at the End of the Line for Central American Migrant Caravan

“Our Southern Border is under siege,” President Donald Trump tweeted on May 4, as another group of asylum-seekers from a caravan of Central Americans gathered at Tijuana was allowed cross into the US, bringing the total to 228. Storyful’s Shane Raymond reports.

The group had traveled through Mexico from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, before camping at the US-Mexican border on April 29.

While migrant caravans passing through Mexico are not a new phenomenon (see this report from the Guardian describing one from 2015), this one has become a hot-button issue for the Trump administration, with the president using it to highlight what he has called the “weak and ineffective US immigration law.”

Trump has criticized “Democrat” laws like “Catch & Release” that he says prevent border security from doing their jobs, while saying the “caravans” are making the situation “more dangerous.”

Footage featured in our video, above, shows Trump speaking at a roundtable on tax reform, held in West Virginia on April 5, as the caravan was traveling through Mexico. It made headlines when Trump said women traveling with the group were “raped at levels that nobody has ever seen before.” The organizers of the caravan denied that there had been any reports of rape at all.

Despite Trump’s comments, US officials said that the cases of individuals seeking asylum would be processed in line with the law to see if they qualify for refugee status.

This process often involves investigators trying to determine whether an asylum-seeker has a “credible fear” of returning to their home country and, sometimes, whether the asylum-seekers have been coached on what to tell investigators.

“I have put in place a ‘zero tolerance’ policy for illegal entry on our southwest border. If you cross this border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you. It’s that simple,” Sessions said.

Commentators have noted the potential impact this policy would have for families, with the New York Times reporting that at least 700 children had already been separated from their parents at the border. Politico said the policy could be a “crisis in the making.”